Aleksi

Give us a little background on yourself.

My name is Aleksi, I am 24 from Jyväskylä in Finland. It’s a small city, with maybe only 150,000 people living there. I moved to Helsinki this April which is more of a bigger city with a bit more going on.

Where are you right now?

I’m at my girlfriend’s family summer cabin in Finland for a minute. I was in Paris for a one-week trip, so it’s nice to chill here for a while. I just had a swim in the ocean before this call and about to warm up the Sauna.

Talk us through your journey in skateboarding.

I started skating when I was around nine years old at home in Jyväskylä with my homies. There was a good little scene back there with a store called Beyond, which is still there. They started hooking me up when I was 14 or 15 and started to get some boards from some small Finnish brands and it all kind of went from there. Now I skate for Vans, Carhartt, Poetic Collective and Ace.

How is your average Day in Helsinki?

It’s pretty chill. I wake up, try and stretch. I like to do something before I skate; biking, sauna, swimming. Then go and skate as much as I can. I used to work at the skate shop Beyond in Jyväskylä, so my days would be taken up with work but now I have a lot more time to skate.

What advice would you give to someone visiting Helsinki?

Going to Sompasauna is nice. It’s a DIY sauna that is just 10 minutes bike from downtown. You can go there during winter too; they make a hole in the ice so you can dip in the water during winter - quite refreshing. Another good plan is taking a boat to any of the small islands here, just to have a chill day and the tickets are not too expensive. I should do it more!

How would you describe the skate scene in Helsinki?

The skate scene in Helsinki is pretty good now, there’s a few skate shops around and a few good Finnish brands. There’s a lot of really good underrated skaters in Helsinki. I feel like there is a better connection with the global scene as a lot of brands are making trips to Helsinki.

I feel like in the Scandinavian skate scene people are more used to skating rough spots than in southern Europe… Whenever I go somewhere on a trip there’s always a lot of spots that no one has touched and we would have skated it so much here.

Where do you like to skate outside of Helsinki?

For skating I love Copenhagen and Malmø, they both have water there where you can have a swim which I really like. They also aren’t massive cities, which makes them pretty easy to navigate. I also just went to Paris for the first time which was amazing, a lot of ledge spots which was great for me.

What have you been working on recently?

We’ve been doing something with Poetic as well as a homie video we have been working on this summer. Troposphere is the name of the crew and Teemu Metsäkylä is the filmer.

How would you describe the vibe within the Vans skate team?

It’s super chill. To be honest, I just met everyone this summer in Helsinki, everyone was super close and nice to each other but also push each other skate-wise. It was amazing having Chris Pfanner’s mum Freida making food for the whole time, such a vibe!

Who and what inspires you in skating?

All my friends inspire me. It’s nice to see them all progressing in and outside of skate. It’s hard not to be inspired with all the crazy clips on the internet. However seeing things in person is always so much more impressive, having Doobie now living in Helsinki gets me super fired up watching him skate.

And outside of skating?

Honestly, I really just love to skate. In the summer we have to make the most of the daylight and skate. In winter, we play a lot of Counterstrike…

How is the balance between summer and winter in Finland?

When I was working it was a lot harder as I would be inside during the few hours of daylight that we have, now I try and spend as much time outside. You get used to the long winters – we have indoor skate parks, so I guess that’s something. We do a lot of snow skating – that’s pretty fun, it’s good to spend time outside doing something. There’s a Canadian company called Ambition, which makes special decks with no trucks and wheels. It’s really hard to turn or do any tricks but that’s what makes it fun. I feel snow skating feels more like skating than indoor, hanging out with the homies and finding spots.

As soon as summer comes around you really make the most of it, it’s pretty much four good months to make it happen, so we’re out there every day!

Favourite Vans shoe to skate in?

The Crockett, and the Authentic Hi!